Dietary supplements are regulated by the FDA as foods, not as drugs. However, many dietary supplements contain ingredients that have strong biological effects that may conflict with a medication you are taking or with a medical condition you may have. An official website of the United States government The.gov means it's official. Federal government websites usually end in .gov or .thousand.
Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is located at 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894 and provides information on Web Policies and Disclosure of FOIAHHS Vulnerabilities. The role of the pharmacist is essential in today's environment when it comes to dietary supplements. The Office of Dietary Supplement Programs (HFS-810) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is located at 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, MD 20740 and provides guidance on the use of dietary supplements.
Everyone should talk to their healthcare provider before making a decision about whether to take a supplement. Dietary supplements are classified by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) as a special category within the general scope of food and, therefore, the FDA remains responsible for helping to regulate the industry. The FDA provides updates on components, press releases and other measures taken in relation to dietary supplements and products that are marketed as dietary supplements, including warning letters and recalls. The FDA established regulations in 1941 to regulate the labeling of vitamins, establishing a minimum daily requirement for each vitamin, but the agency did not restrict the amount of vitamin allowed in supplements at that time.
Thanks to the efforts of manufacturers, the 1973 regulations were annulled, returned to the FDA through legal action in 1974, and the FDA reviewed and re-proposed them in 1975.
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During this period, Senator William Proxmire (Democrat from Wisconsin) became an advocate for the supplement industry. A dietary supplement is an oral product that contains a dietary ingredient intended to supplement one's diet. In 1990, President George H. W.Bush signed into law the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), which required foods and dietary supplements to carry a nutrition label. A coalition made up of health food stores, supplement users, the supplement industry, lobbyists and sympathetic members of Congress created a new class of products and simultaneously declared that this new class would not be subject to FDA oversight. Beginning in 1962, the FDA attempted to revise the 1941 regulations to adopt the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) and more importantly, to limit the amount of each vitamin in any product to 150% of the RDA.
